


A Team Free Will Christmas

by ThatwasJustaDream



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Destiel feels, M/M, holiday fluff, team free will christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 13:38:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9074335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatwasJustaDream/pseuds/ThatwasJustaDream
Summary: Nothing fancy - just moments from a TFW Christmas with established Destiel, grumpy Dean, brotherly snark and affection, and a huge tree they manage to enjoy despite it all.





	

Dean knew he should get up and help them, but the sight of an evergreen the size of a small truck half floating and half falling its way down the stairs into the bunker was too much. He had to sit back and watch this for a bit.  
  
“Hey Saammmy!” He shouted, eventually, voice pitched deep. “There’s a posessed tree invading! Come help me kill it.”  
  
The very bushy, super-pine-scented monstrosity stopped short of the landing, its branches rustling and shaking as four hands wrestled with it. Two faces that went with the four hands popped into view: Sammy at the foot end, barely visible and yet visibly fuming from between the layers of thick greenery and Cas’ head popping over the top in full-squint-mode.  
  
“Are you frigging kidding me?” Sam almost dropped his end, but caught it. “Come help or….”  
  
“Or what?” Dean did, though, scooting behind Sam to get in the middle. “You’ll crush me with a jumbo conifer? Seriously, what the hell were you….ooof…thinking?”  
  
Shit, this thing must weight a quarter ton. The stairs were holding in the branches, but it was way wider than it was tall, and…it was tall.  
  
“What I was thinking is that the ceilings in here are twenty footers,” Sam said as they finally made the turn and headed for the living area off the library. “So we might as well make good use of them.”  
  
That wasn’t what Dean had meant, but he didn’t harp because he knew full well Sam understood the real question and was ignoring it. They only seldom celebrated Christmas in any orchestrated way - huge tree, big meal, etc; kind of hard to manage all that when you’re living in your car or going from motel to motel. Not to mention, celebrating seemed to throw a light on what they didn’t have.  
  
A most notable exception had been a couple of Decembers a few years back, when they’d made it to Bobby’s for a few days. Dean thought of him, now; remembering the huge, home cooked meals he’d go out of his cranky way to make them.  
  
“And there you go,” Dean thought as he watched Cas and Sam wrestle the tree into a watering stand. “Bittersweet already….”  
  
Damned tree.  
  
-*-  
  
“How much did this outsized tannenbaum cost us??” Dean asked.  
  
“It cost nothing,” Castiel informed him as he filled the base with water from a pitcher. “I stole it.”  
  
“Excuse me? Angel of the lord, swiping a tree? I know you’ve got a rap sheet with way bigger things on it, babe, but… Chuck’s not exactly going to be thrilled, is he?”  
  
‘If he ever comes back’ went left unsaid.  
  
“Well the owner of the tree farm… he had a spot on his lung,” Castiel explained. “I cured it. He’ll never know, of course, but I feel it’s more than a fair exchange, even for a tree of this size.”  
  
“Damn…” Dean said. "Guess so."  
  
“Hey Cas,” Sam was pruning some of the wonkier branches with pruning shears. “You will let us know if either of us needs a tune-up like that, right? I mean….all the drinking Dean does, who the hell knows what’s going on in there at this point?”  
  
“Not festive, Sammy…” Dean said. “Don’t be pissy ‘cause I questioned your decision to buy something that’ll probably dry out, drop needles by the millions, and cause the place to burn down….”  
  
Even short of a disaster like that, they’d definitely be sweeping this thing off of the stone floors right through July.  
  
“Either of you should be so lucky as to make it to an age where your disease risk begins to spike,” Castiel said, heading for the kitchen with the now-empty pitcher.  
  
“Well ho, ho, freaking …ho,” Dean grumbled.  
  
Sam was crouched down low, cleaning up the lines of the bottom branches and Dean opted to give him a soft kick in the ass with his boot.  
  
“Jerk!”  
  
“Bitch!” Dean said, grinning. “Hey, just like old times.”  
  
Now that felt festive. First thing all darn December that had. Maybe the tree contributed, in a way. But Dean wasn’t giving it any credit, yet.

-*-

“So this thing may have been free,” Sam said, looking it over after his shearing job. “But we clearly didn’t think of everything….”

“Decorations,” Castiel nodded, a hint of regret in his voice. 

They were giving the tree time to spread. Dean thought about giving them grief about consciously taking a break to let it settle in without considering what they might or might not have to decorate it with once it did, anyway.

Clearly no one was in full charge of Operation Team Free Will Christmas. 

“I can hit a department store,” Sam said. “I mean… it’s not like we won’t eat if I get us a couple of strings of….”

“You don’t have to go anywhere,” Dean said, putting up a hand when Sam started to object. “There are decorations in the garage.”

“There are? When did you find those?”

“I don’t know…sometime after we moved in. Unlike some people I tend to this place. I make it my business to get to know more than the library, bathroom and the dungeon.”

“Are you going to be this miserable right through the thirty-first?” Sam asked. “’Cause if so, maybe I should move into the library until I find us a case….”

“All right,” Dean headed for the garage. “Message received. C'mon: I’ll help you cart out the decorations. I’ll even help get ‘em on the damn tree. But that’s it – we’re not going nuts with the holiday crap; no music, no big dinner, no presents.”

Dean could see Sam revving up to ask him who died and made him the boss of Christmas-present, but then he shut his mouth and gave a terse nod. 

Thank goodness. Someone had to put their foot down, before this got out of hand. 

-*-

"Sam, there's something I need to share," Castiel said, pulling crystal ornaments from a box and setting them on the library table one by one. "But I can't elaborate without ...violating Dean's privacy."

"Well maybe it'd be best not to tell me at all?" Sam was a few yards away, hanging lead tinsel on the tree a few strands at a time. "Up to you, though, Cas."

Dean had gone back to the garage to get the last box, and they'd only have another couple of minutes. 

"It's not the tree Dean is upset about," Cas said.

"Hell, I could've told you that," Sam said. "He can get pretty pissy about the holidays. Nothing new, nothing to worry about."

"It's...not about 'the holidays', it's ...specific to this year's holidays," Cas said, visibly hesitating and then plowing forward. "He's upset that neither of you has had a holiday greeting from your mother."

"He told you that?"

"He didn't have to," Castiel started hanging the ornaments where Sam had already applied the tinsel. "I can read him again, with my grace back. I simply... know it. I didn't want you to think his frustration is with you when it isn't."

"Cas, could you read my emotions as easily as his?"

"Oh, of course," Castiel said, absently - and then.... "But I don't, I swear. Yours I sense more like...background noise."

"Huh," Sam let a teasing note into his voice. "And yet, you don't think twice about reading Dean's like a book?"

"It's not a conscious choice," Castiel went back to the table for more of the ornaments. "It's more like ...I can't not read them."

Sam shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. He thought about pointing out there was a four letter word for that, but he didn't have it in him to make Cas stammer and blush - not with Dean coming back any second.

No need to further complicate an already complicated weekend.

-*-

Christmas Eve brought an unexpected foot and a half of snow to Lebanon, Kansas, making the perfect excuse for a lazy Christmas Day.

"Our tree..." Castiel said from the sofa, his feet on the coffee table and Dean's head on his lap. "It's a bit of a ...hodgepodge. Isn't it?"

"You guys did a bangup job," Dean said, flat on his back, holding up the cashmere henley Sam had given him. "Looks gorgeous."

Honestly, it was on the busy side: Elegant, clear ornaments of European crystal sat next to colorful bubble lights, which lay near gaudy yet fragile depression-era santas and reindeer painted onto stamped tin. 

"It's festive, you have to give it that," Sam said from the recliner to their right, fingers flipping through the books of runes and symbols Dean had found for him at a book shop up the highway. 

There had been a holiday dinner after all - maybe not five star gourmet, but Sam had made vegetable beef stew from scratch and Castiel had baked a pineapple upside down cake, which was the only thing he had found so far rich and piquant enough to register with his tastebuds. 

Now they were listening to ancient Christmas albums dug out of a cabinet under the stereo, lights out except for the tree and a small lamp next to Sam's chair.

The peaceful, timeless mood made the bleeping of their phone notifications going off feel jarring.

"Huh," Dean said, examining the image that the alert linked to. "Whaddaya know..."

"What is it?" Castiel asked, and Dean held it up for him. "Ohhh.... good. I'm glad, beregida."

Dean leaned up enough to show Sam, too: The loop of an animated 'Words with Friends" board slowly spellling out 'Merry Christmas Son' tile by tile. 

Sam nodded, and turned his phone to show Dean a gif of a sleigh undulating over a plain, grey background with Rudolph's nose lighting up every few seconds. Under it were X marks for hugs, and 'Mom' in her fine cursive.

"Lord help us," Dean dropped back down onto Cas' lap. "Mom's learned how to make gifs."

-*-

"'Night, man," Sam murmured to Castiel, tapping him on one shoulder with the book in his hand as he headed for his room. 

"Merry Christmas, Sam," Cas said. 

Dean was out cold on his lap - had been for half an hour, now, after they'd all shared a final round of cake and beer and a few hands of cards.

Castiel considered urging Dean to bed, but thought better of it. He extricated himself from Dean's lap and left him long enough to search up a huge blanket, then carefully stretched out along side him on the sofa and wrapped them both in it.

"Cas..." Dean's voice was raspy as he woke, barely, eyes heavy. "Did you have anything to do with it?"

"With what, Dean?" Castiel reached up to kiss him, then settled in by Dean's shoulder.

"Her dropping us a 'holiday howdy?'"

"No. I didn't - I swear."

"M'glad she did."

"I know you are," Castiel said. "Get some sleep, okay?"

'There will be time for worry later' was in his tone, if not his words. 

"Yeah," Dean reached behind him for a sofa pillow and settled into it.

"And Dean..."

"Mmmhmm?"

"Thanks for not making any jokes about it..."

"What?"

"Sticking me up on top of the tree. Or an effigy of me. Or a photograph of me, or..."

"You felt that rattling around my head, huh?" Dean asked. "Right around the time that thing showed up?"

"Yes."

"Would you have smited me if I'd said it out loud?"

"No...but I'd have wanted to."

"Thanks for being patient this week," Dean said. "I'm probably always gonna struggle with anything...festive."

"It's all right," Castiel turned, and Dean assumed the big spoon. "No one should have to be anything but what they are."

"True that," Dean said.

Castiel felt a kiss on the top of his head, and then Dean settling in. 

He lay watching the lights as Dean slid back into sleep, both he and the tree standing guard over their simple but happy silent night.


End file.
